So we spent the weekend in Venice for the last weekend of Carnivale. We took an overnight bus there and back and stayed in a hotel on the main land in Mestre. Carnivale wasn’t as wild as we expected; we were imagining Mardi Gras style craziness, but it was really tame and more like a broken parade wandering about in all different directions. It was extremely crowded with costumed and masked people were everywhere. People usually wear masks and the occasional really detailed gowns, but others dressed up as characters like it was Halloween. We saw a group dressed up as Falcore from The Never Ending Story, The Simpsons, etc.

We spent our weekend strolling and wandering about too. We walked all over the main island of Venice, the main festivities being in St. Marks square, and some neighboring islands as well, like San Georgio. We went into many churches, a musical instrument museum, the balcony of St. Mark’s cathedral, and walked on countless bridges and winding alley ways. We went to the Accademia, an art museum and saw some nifty paintings. We ate some traditional donut-like snacks and drank wine from a fountain.